Why are people in such a hurry?

I was heading up I-93 north in NH this past Friday around 4 PM. You can imagine how much traffic there was because of the holiday weekend. The people in the driving lane was going around 65 MPH and the one's in the passing lane we're doing at least 80+ MPH and here comes a truck towing a big toy hauler in the passing lane. I expected to find him to be on the side of the road with a blowout. If I had, I would have just driven right by him a tooted my horn. What is the big rush? Lot's of crazy people out there. 

I have been wondering the same thing for years Rene. During the gas shortage in the 70s the national speed limit was reduced to 55 to save fuel. I fell in love with driving that speed. Better gas mileage, less wear and tear on the engine, less wear on the tires, less chance of an accident, and I got to see a lot more of the scenery. So I have been driving 55 ever since on freeways. In town I usually drive close to the posted limit and I am always amazed at how people act like I am slowing them down. I drive in the right hand lane and people still get annoyed. What amazes me is that if I in the right hand lane doing the speed limit and I want to pass someone I will pull into the left lane temporarily doing the posted speed limit. If there is someone in the left lane that is a few hundred yards behind me they will almost always speed up and get right on my bumper before I have a chance to finish the pass and pull back into the right lane. I have concluded these idiots are not upset because I am only going the speed limit, they want to dominate me. Be in front of me. How dare me to be in front of them. I have a niece that drives like a maniac and everyone who is in front of her is an idiot for going so slow and anyone who is behind her is an ahole. She cusses out everyone on the road. I refuse to ride with her.

I think that law enforcement has thrown in the towel.  It is now a free for all.  Last week I had a state trooper at my house, taking information about my identity theft, and asked him some questions while DW was digging up the paperwork.  Basically he said that there is no speed control on my road and no plans to do so.  The stop sign down the road would only be enforced if a driver blatantly blew by it.  I have trouble making a turn at the nearest traffic light because cars almost always stop beyond the stop line, the trooper couldn't understand the problem.

I remember reading a science fiction story years ago. The setting for the entire story is a car. Two researchers either going TO or FROM work car pooling discussing the job. The job. >Faster than light travel.

As speed limits keep going up and up they comment on the cars flying by "Was that a Rocket Car?" (a line from the story

Finally one of 'em gets an idea. they petittion congress New speed limit signs are put up (A bit bigger than the ones we see now) and 2 weeks later FTL happens becuse Americans have a GOD GIVEN RIGHT to SPEED.

I like driving slower. I mean the RV life is about smelling the roses after all.

It is awfully easy to go slow when you are retired like we are now. It was awfully easy to go fast when all we had was a three day weekend every few months. We upgraded the tires to a higher load rating and knew the trailer was way under max load.

UTTransplant said:

It is awfully easy to go slow when you are retired like we are now. It was awfully easy to go fast when all we had was a three day weekend every few months.

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Ya, in a hours drive, you got there 5 minutes before me.

I used to have to go over into CT to a shooting range for some courses I was taking.  The range was pretty much in the center of the state.

I never once saw a cop car.  I made it a point of driving 10 miles OVER the posted speed limit.  I was being passed by EVERYBODY.  I was being passed by SCHOOL BUSES!  Little old ladies would give me the finger as they passed me.

    I wish I could say it is only in the US, but we see similar speeding up here too.  What it does to their vehicle or RV doesn't bother me in the least, but the damage cause through accidents caused by speeding, or the damage done to the roads does.
    As for CT, I do try to avoid it as best that I can.  Many years ago, prior to owning the Motor Home, we were on I 84, west of Hartford.  I was coming up to a slow moving vehicle in the right lane, pulled into the left lane to pass, and suddenly there were several cars on my tail.  I hit the gas to get by, several cars went by me like I was stopped, but then the lights went on behind me.  I thought, serves those idiots right speeding like they did.  Guess what, it was me he stopped and ticketed.  When i asked him about those other cars, all of which had CT plates, he merely said, "you were speeding and the choice of who to ticket is mine"  If memory serves me right, it cost me around $250, but that is the last time I have payed to stay, shopped or bought gas in CT.

Ed

I was in Michigan, in a car, the speed limit was 70. I went 70 and you would have thought I was parked the way I was being passed up. I got up to 80, still got passed up like I was dragging my feet so I just went about 72 thinking if I'm going to be passed up anyway, I might as well go a speed I'm more comfortable driving. 80 is absurdly fast when you live in a 55 mph state.

It's too bad that people feel the need to "hurry up to have fun". The road trip itself is a large part of the fun of RV-ing to me. I hardly ever go over 60 MPH, and try to go no more than about 200-250 miles in a day.  When not on a road trip, for daily fun, I drive a Subaru STI, but when RV-ing, I like to slow down to covered wagon speeds. 

I am guilty of speeding. I always looked at speed limits as suggestions. When not pulling our TT I will keep up with traffic until about 85. I have caught myself going 90-95. Interstates are so boring and when I travel on them I just want to get to where I?m going as quickly as possible. When pulling the RV I try to keep my speed at no faster than 65. Sometimes I catch myself going 70+ and slow down. I have heard, not sure it?s true, that as long as you keep your speed on inter/intrastate highways at no more 9 mph over the posted limit the cops won?t bother you.

Oldgator73 said:

as long as you keep your speed on inter/intrastate highways at no more 9 mph over the posted limit the cops won?t bother you.

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I've had cops tell me that troopers pull over 15 mph over and more. That's in NY, Idk if it varies state to state. When I'm traveling on a highway in a car, I'll go up to 10 over to keep up with traffic.

When I think about my early years as a driver, I remember being frustrated by old folks (like the one I have become  :-[) that were always slowing me down when I was in a hurry.  If memory serves, I believe I was always in a hurry.  I would always speed up to get around them.  It didn't occur to me why these slow pokes weren't going faster.  Now I get it.  Unfortunately now I have to contend with that same ire when I keep younger people from getting to their destination.  As they say, what goes around........

I had to make an emergency run to the coast and back on Friday afternoon, we could not have picked a worse day with the holiday traffic. The speed limit on highway 5 over the Coquihalla pass is 120 kmh, about 75 mph, and few were going that slow! I stayed at 110 and had to constantly watch my mirrors for idiots climbing my bumper. They were constantly changing lanes to pass, it was a major wreck waiting to happen.
I understand wanting to get to the cabin or campsite and crack a beer but driving like that after a day in the salt mine is just plain stupid, they are not rested and alert.

What really bugs me is that the signs say "Speed Limit". They do not say this is the speed you must drive, it is the fastest speed you can legally drive under optimum conditions. But people treat it as a suggestion, go driving like a bat out of hell and then I can hear them later on complaining about the price of gas. Slow down and gas gets a lot cheaper.

After 32 years as a cop, and after seeing hundreds of accidents, I can tell you that there are two causal factors that were present at the overwhelming majority of them - inattention and/or speed- oftentimes both factors were present.

On our recent RV trip through several western states, the posted speed limit was often 80 mph. I can't even imagine what my fuel bill and mpg would be driving that fast over thousands of miles. Most drivers, however, even truckers, were driving 80 or faster. I also noted to Cyndi that we'd frequently go hundreds of miles - oftentimes an entire day - without seeing a single State Trooper. Subjectively, I don't think there are as many on the road as there used to be.

Kev

I drove to California from Florida a few years ago and was amazed that I did not see one state trooper until I left Amarillo Texas heading west on I-40. Then I saw at least a dozen cops all busy writing tickets between Amarillo and the state line.

We lived in the UK for several years. Never saw a cop on the road. They have both stationary and Mobil speed cameras. These cameras even take your picture if you are driving and texting/talking on the phone.

I understand the idea of being in a hurry, and was a sinner myself, especially during all those years of 6-day work weeks. Then I started doing the math and realized that the time saved was usually insignificant.
Now I drive the speed limit, which is plenty safe in most places under most conditions. If I'm towing I go no faster than 60-62mph. In no-passing zones I'm quick to pull off to let others past when it's safe to do so. Other than that, I don't worry much about who's behind me or how fast they want to go. It surprises me how many will zoom up behind me on straight, flat two-lane roads with passing allowed, then just hang back there for miles, wasting numerous safe passing opportunities. Go figure. Their problem, not mine.
What worries me more than speed these days is distracted driving. There is nothing you have to say, much less text, to anyone that will affect your life more than being in an accident would. Even with a hands-free device you just can't maintain adequate attention to driving during a phone call.
Pilots are taught to maintain a rigorous order of priorities: First, aviate (maintain control of the aircraft and clearance from hard things), then use any spare  time to navigate (figure out where you are and where you're headed) and finally communicate (talk on or listen to the radio) only with any spare time left after aviating and navigating. Yet we have relatively untrained drivers trying to do all three at once. Crazy.

In Littleton now ,cars parked along 93 for half a mile on every exit in frankconia area